Saturday, July 25, 2015

July Leading Lady Anja Bytyqi | Take Four

As July gives way to August we reach the last Saturday with our astonishing July Leading Lady, Anja Bytyqi.  These four weeks with Anja have been illuminating and have passed all too quickly.  We wish to express our heartfelt gratitude to you, Anja, for the excellence, detail and scope of each of your performances.  It has been a delight and honor to have you as our leading lady.  

If you missed her smashing debut you must see it...CLICK HERE or her masterful touch with masks and stencils showcased in her second performance CLICK HERE or her skills with inks gloriously displayed in her third performance CLICK HERE!

Lucky for us all we have her final command performance today.  

Hi everyone,

Can't believe how fast time flies! I'm sentimental today because my time as Winnie & Walter's Leading Lady for July now comes to an end :-( I really had a blast to create and share all these projects here and I'm truly honored and thankful for this wonderful chance! Thank you so much for all your lovely comments and the positive feedback! It really means so much to me!



For my last turn I will do some kind of a Wrap-Up post by incorporating the techniques I've shown you in my last three performances. I will combine these topics with my love for floral stamps and dies which of course can be found in the Winnie & Walter store.

Ready for today's Flower Power?


Embossing with a die and watercolored die-cuts



For my first card I once again used the incredible Cover Model: Multifaceted Cutaway die. But this time I did some fun Dry Embossing with it. This means I've run it through my die-cutting machine using a silicone mat so the parts won't be cut but pressed into the paper. To create this beautiful flower I did some free Watercoloring with Distress Inks and die-cut the solid parts with the In Bloom: Maggie's Roses Cutaways. After that I also die-cut the outlines from white cardstock and glued them on top. I really love how this turned out! For a bit of dimension I popped up the rose with foam tape. The sentiment is from The Big, the Bold and Friends stamp set. I white heat embossed it on vellum and did some fussy cutting. To embellish my card I adhered a couple of clear and pink sequins.


Stenciled Golden Stripes and Heat Embossed Flowers



Here I combined a striped background with white heat embossed floral images. I generously sponged «Delicata Golden Glitz» Pigment Ink from Tsukineko through the Scenery: Classic Diagonal Creative Screenings stencil. This looks great on dark cardstock. I arranged some flowers from the In Bloom: Addie's Garden stamp set and heat embossed them in white. The sentiment is from The Party stamp set.


Stamped Floral Background



I like to create my own backgrounds with several stamps especially flowers. For this card I used the images from two sets: Joni Andaya's gorgeous In Bloom: Lola's Bouquet and The Party. I tried a new color combo with my Dye Inks which are great for crisp impressions. I die-cut a scalloped rectangle from vellum with one of the Essentials: Audrey Cutaways dies. The sentiment from The Big, the Bold and You was heat embossed with «Liquid Platinum» by Ranger. I glued the vellum on my stamped floral background. To hide the few dots of adhesive I added a couple of pearls and sequins.


For my last two cards I once again used the pretty In Bloom: Addie's Garden stamp set to show you its versatility. These floral images can look really elegant and soft by watercoloring them but also simple and modern when only using the outline on a bold watercolor background.


Watercolor Blooms



At first I white heat embossed the flowers and leaves on watercolor cardstock. I did some masking to build my cluster. Then I colored it with Distress Inks. The light blue «glow» was made with one of the new-to-me ZIG Clean Color Real Brush Pens which are totally in trend right now. I die-cut the word «hugs» (The Big, the Bold and Friends Cutaways) four times from white cardstock and stacked them together. Finally I added some clear sequins.


Gerbera on a bright watercolor background



I made this watercolor background with my Distress Inks by simply letting them blend with the help of water. I love how bright and cheery these inks are! I only used three colors – through blending, the pink and the turquoise created this gorgeous blue and purple tones. After letting this dry completely I heat embossed the gerbera and the sentiment from The Party in white. To finish my simple card design I matted the watercolor piece on black cardstock for a better contrast and added two white enamel dots.


Now it's time for me to leave the Leading Lady stage *sniff*. I so enjoyed this incredible experience! I'm sad writing these last couple of lines but also very grateful for this awesome opportunity!

Don't forget to comment on the Leading Lady posts on my personal blog for your chance to win a $30 gift card to the Winnie & Walter store. I will draw a random winner by the end of the month.


Thanks to Julie & Shay for having me! I really appreciate your support and generosity!

Thank you so much for stopping by! Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!








w&w-supplies


16 comments:

  1. Anja what a pleasure you are ... and plenty talented, too. Each and every card is gorgeous and you inspire me to try a few of my favorites from your month with us. Thank you so very much for sharing! I'll be seeing you again, I'm sure of it!
    =] Michele

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  2. Love these techniques! The colors are refreshing. Awesome job!

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  3. Love these techniques! The colors are refreshing. Awesome job!

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  4. I like the variety of techniques on these beautiful floral cards.

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  5. Just loving the watercolor blooms!!

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  6. So glad I discovered you through your leading lady role, Anja, I absolutely LOVE your style! I'm pinning all of these beautiful to my W&W Pinterest board, each one is fabulous! Outstanding performance this month :)

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  7. These are all just terrific! Each one is a colorful and beautiful masterpiece!

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  8. Absolutely beautiful. Especially that last one.

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  9. Wow Anja you truly "go out" with a bang...these cards are spectacular!

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  10. Gorgeous cards! I especially love the watercolor blooms... lovely!

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  11. Very cool cards! I especially love the blue & gold one and the daisy on Distress Inked background. So pretty!

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  12. FABULOUS techniques and GORGEOUS cards - SO MUCH to LOVE!!!
    THANK YOU for sharing your SERIOUSLY AWESOME CREATIVE INSPIRATION Anja - I am TOTALLY INSPIRED!!! ... I confess that I have some regrets too, I have a big bundle of W&W goodies on their way to my house and I honestly can't understand WHY I didn't include Addie's Garden and The Party in it, definitely will next time :)

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  13. oh these are all so awesome!!! I love your foil card!

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  14. WOW! Your cards certainly pack a "flower power" punch...beautiful, gorgeous, stunning! I'm terrible at water-colouring, but the techniques you've shown here can be adapted to other mediums, which has me super excited to try. Love your first card...the embossed mulit-faceted die is the perfect backdrop for your stunning rose! Thank you for sharing your amazing gift of creativity with us! You are, indeed, a stellar Leading Lady!
    ~c

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  15. Oh my stars, these cards are goooorgeous! TFS! :D

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